Reports from Niger in the first weeks following the July coup claimed generals in the country had asked the Russian mercenary group Wagner for help in light of an ultimatum by West African regional leaders to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum. Social media users then circulated a video purportedly showing Wagner fighters arriving by plane in Niger. However, online searches and geolocation experts confirmed the video is at least 17 years old and comes from Sudan.

The 23-second clip shows grainy video of a plane descending through smog and preparing to land in front of apartment blocks. Audio from the video sounds similar to Russian military marching music.

“BREAKING: Video Footage LEAKED barely an hour ago is presumably the landing of the Il-76 military transport aircraft in Niger, purportedly carrying Wagner PMC fighters. Authorities in Niger have officially confirmed the presence of Wagner fighters in the country,” reads a post on X, formerly Twitter, published on August 6, 2023.

Army officers toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023, prompting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to threaten to use force to reinstate him (archived here).

Similar claims with the same video also circulated in Arabic and French.

A text watermark on the clip refers to a Russian Telegram account that focuses on news from African countries.

By searching this Telegram channel, we found the video accompanied by a caption in Russian. This caption initially read:...

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